Instacart grocery delivery service to expand to Quad Cities

Instacart, a retail grocery delivery service that uses shoppers to hand-pick and deliver groceries from local stores, announced Thursday, Feb. 1, that it would start operations in northern Arizona on Feb. 8.

The service, which said it can deliver within an hour, will begin deliveries in Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Yavapai Hills, Groom Creek, Wildwood Estates, and Iron Springs, as well as Camp Verde, Cottonwood, Cornville, and Montezuma, and Cherry, according to a news release.

A visit to the company’s website, instacart.com, shows the service available to Prescott-area zip codes, including Williamson Valley.

Instacart will also serve Flagstaff, Sedona, and surrounding areas.

The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2012 and currently serves over 200 markets.

Orders to Instacart can be placed online or by smartphone, and customers can order from Sprouts, Safeway, Costco, Natural Grocers, and CVS.

Caleb Grisell, Instacart’s general manager, said the expansion was driven by “incredible demand.”

In order to meet that demand, the company plans to hire more than 100 shoppers to pick up the groceries for customers.

The fee for delivery is $5.99 for orders of $35 or more. Customers can also join Instacart Express and pay $14.99 each month or $149 a year for free same-day deliveries.